Ahmedabad: Industry wants MBAs with general knowledge

With a dip in numbers of MBA graduates getting placed across the country, academic experts from Ahmedabad feel that one of the biggest reasons is that the curriculum of MBA colleges does not match with industry requirements.

For BK School of Management, one of the oldest and prominent schools that provides full-time MBA programme, offering major-minor specialisation formula has indeed worked.

Sharing insights on the new trends in placements, Dr Prateek Kanchan, Director of the management school said, “Industry partners these days are expecting students who have less specialisation and more of general subject knowledge. While they do hire students who have specialisation in finance, marketing, and HR, they, however, look for students who can handle various roles. Secondly, they also look at students who are willing to move out of their base geographically.”

Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University Dr Himanshu Pandya feels the biggest problem is that MBA colleges are mushrooming in the state and this is a deteriorating situation as such colleges are not able to recruit an adequate number of qualified faculty. “Trends in industry changes rapidly but the same is not being followed by colleges. Practices, approach, and dissertations need to change every three years, or if possible every year. So colleges need to have dual approach having skill-based programmes as well as conventional research and practice. The biggest problem is that all students want jobs but they are not knowledge oriented and which is why recruiters are also finding difficult to get right kind of people with domain knowledge,” he said.

Dr Rupal Shah, Principal, LJ College of Business Administration feels that this trend is not just restricted to MBA programme, but in all courses.

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While they do hire students who have specialisation, they look for students who can handle various roles

They also look at students who are willing to move out of their base geographically